1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for separating rebar from tangled bundles of rebar.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rebar comprises the elongated cylindrical steel rods which are placed within concrete to reinforce such concrete.
The rods of rebar come in bundles and often become entangled with one another.
At a facility which cuts and, on occasion, bends the rebar to make it suitable for particular purposes, a bundle of rebar is placed upon a horizontal rack. Then, after removing the straps which hold the bundle together, an individual manually grasps and shakes one rod at a time until it is loosened from the other rods. Such rod is then moved to a portion of the horizontal rack which can have one edge lowered to dump the separated rod onto rollers to be transported for measuring and cutting.
One prior non-manual separator for rebar of which the present inventor is aware is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,995. That separator utilizes a “blade-like member 55” that is moved longitudinally with respect to the rebar. Apparently, it is inserted between two intertwined pieces of rebar and then moved longitudinally.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,823 of Albert Musschoot shows a frame 6 on air spring isolators 4, 5.
As a first, relatively minor, point, Musschoot discloses, in lines 29 through 31, “a plurality of vibratory feeders 1, 2, and 3 . . . with their individual controls,” not a separator.
More importantly, though, the element in Musschoot which is analogous to the crossbars 1 of the present Application is the frame 6 to which the exciter 11 is attached in order to produce vibration and which frame 6 acts, according to line 39 through 42 in column 2 of Muschoot, as “a support for a shallow trough 9 serving as a material conveying surface.” And the frame 6 is not slanted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,235,721 of Franklin D. Lakins discloses simply a box with an open top. The box is tilted from side to side in order to separate to unscramble bundles of bar stock. When the bundle has been sufficiently unscrambled, the box is tilted toward a side which has fluid-powered cylinders that push a selected bar high enough to fall over the lower side of the tilted box.
Lines 46 through 58 in column 1 of Lakins explain, “Briefly described, the machine comprising the preferred embodiment of the invention is made up of a long box, capable of containing bar stock up to 22 feet in length, and bundles of such bar stock weighing as much as ten thousand pounds. The box is pivotally mounted along its center line and means are provided for alternately tilting the box along its pivot points up to 10° on both sides of horizontal, which causes the bar stock to roll from side to side until the individual bars are lying straight and are unscrambled. Thereafter, one side of the box is provided with selectively operable discharge means which functions to discharge the bar stock from the box in single fashion.”
Lines 16 through 19 in column 2 of Lakins further clarify, “A plurality of cross rail angle irons 20 extend across the channel members 14, 16 and 18 and are affixed thereto by welding, or the like, to provide a floor for the machine . . . . ”
And line 1 through 19 in column 3 of Lakins provide, “The mounting of the box on the supporting structure by means of the clevis brackets 70 and bearings 76 permit oscillation of the box about the horizontal plane. The oscillation of the box is effected by three tilt cylinders 102 which have a bracket 104 affixed between apertured ears 106 of a pair of plates 108 affixed to and carried by three of the support legs 92. The rod 110 of the cylinder 102 has a clevis 112 connected to its outer end, and the clevis is connected by means of a pin 114 to a depending boss 116 affixed to the underside of the channel member 18 at three spaced positions along the channel member 18. Accordingly, it will be seen that when fluid is admitted to the lower end of the cylinders 102, the box will be oscillated in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3, about the axis of the bearing pins 74 to about 10° from the horizontal plane, and when fluid is admitted to the upper end of the cylinder 102, the box will be oscillated clockwise 10° of the horizontal plane.”
Furthermore, the cylinders 102 of Lakins do not vibrate the box; as Lakins, itself, declares, the cylinders 102 “tilt” the box “along its pivot points.”
Consequently, Lakins has no vibratory motor and lacks a vibrational insulator.
As can be seen in the quotation from Lakins above, element 70 is clevis brackets which enable the box to pivot. Clevis brackets must be rigid structures to support the box and would not deter the passage of vibrations. [It should be noted that, in an apparent error, line 56 in column 2 of Lakins uses “70” also to designate “bolts.” Bolts, however, would also not deter the passage of vibrations.]
Lakins, moreover, does not disclose slanted crossbars. The box of Lakins is composed of some bars, and the whole box is able to be tilted but such bars do not slant with respect to the box and are not permanently slanted with respect to the base of the Lakins machine.
In addition to the two or more crossbars and the vibrational motor which U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,637 of Rudolf Graef has, in order to separate rods, Graef uses rollers in combination with the crossbars and vibrational motors.
Graef states (in lines 46 through 49 of column 1, lines 44 through 50 of column 2, and lines 4 through 9 of column 3), “ . . . the vibrations coupled with the brief interruptions in the forward push on the rods reduces the friction of the rods against each other and disentangles them . . . .
“ . . . at least one vibratory device positioned along said track for repeatedly lifting said rods off said rollers for a short interval of time; said repeatedly lifting of said rods off said drive rollers causing an intermittent stoppage of the forward movement of said rods so as to reduce the friction between said rods for a short interval of time . . . .
“ . . . said vibratory devices each periodically raising and lowering said rods as they pass thereover; and said periodic raising and lowering of said rods causing a brief stoppage of the forward movement of said rods so as to reduce the friction between and entanglement of said rods . . . .”
And, notably, the crossbars of Graef are not slanted.